2014 New York Laws
GBS - General Business
Article 36 - (760 - 767) PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
765 - Penalties and liabilities.

  765.  Penalties and liabilities. 1. Civil penalties.  a. Failure to
  comply with any provision of this article shall subject an excavator  or
  an  operator  to  a  civil  penalty  of  up to two thousand five hundred
  dollars for the first violation and up to  an  additional  ten  thousand
  dollars  for each succeeding violation that occurs within a twelve month
  period.
b. The penalties provided for by this article shall not  apply  to  an
  excavator  who damages an underground facility due to the failure of the
  operator to comply with any of the provisions of this article nor  shall
  in  such  instance  the excavator be liable for repairs as prescribed in
  subdivision four of this section.
* c. An action to recover a penalty under this article may be  brought
  in the supreme court in the judicial district in which the violation was
  alleged  to have occurred which shall be commenced and prosecuted by the
  attorney general. The  public  service  commission  shall,  pursuant  to
  section one hundred nineteen-b of the public service law, forward to the
  attorney  general  its  determination  of  the amount of the penalty for
  violations  of  rules  and  regulations   adopted   to   implement   the
  requirements  of  this  article. Upon receipt of such determination, the
  attorney general may commence an action to  recover  such  penalty.  All
  moneys  recovered  in  any such action, together with the costs thereof,
  and all moneys recovered as  the  result  of  any  such  public  service
  commission  determination  shall be paid into the underground facilities
  safety training account established pursuant to section ninety-seven-www
  of the state finance law.
* NB Effective until October 1, 2015
* c. An action to recover a penalty under this article may be  brought
  in the supreme court in the judicial district in which the violation was
  alleged  to have occurred which shall be commenced and prosecuted by the
  attorney general. The  public  service  commission  shall,  pursuant  to
  section one hundred nineteen-b of the public service law, forward to the
  attorney  general  its  determination  of  the amount of the penalty for
  violations  or  rules  and  regulations   adopted   to   implement   the
  requirements  of  this  article. Upon receipt of such determination, the
  attorney general may commence an action to  recover  such  penalty.  All
  moneys  recovered  in  any such action, together with the costs thereof,
  shall be paid into the state treasury to the credit of the general fund.
* NB Effective October 1, 2015
2. Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, nothing  in  this
  article  shall  impair,  limit  or  reduce  the statutory, common law or
  contractual  duties  or  tort  or  other  liability  of  any   excavator
  excavating or demolishing in the vicinity of underground facilities.
3.  Any  excavator engaging in or proposing to engage in excavation or
  demolition in a negligent or unsafe manner, which has resulted in or  is
  likely  to  result  in damage to underground facilities in such a manner
  that  life,  property  or  the  continuation  of  operator  service   is
  endangered,  may  be  enjoined from such excavation or demolition or any
  aspect thereof upon application of the operator owning the facilities or
  the attorney general made in supreme court having  jurisdiction  in  the
  county  wherein  the  excavation or demolition or proposed excavation or
  demolition is to take place. Three or more instances  of  damage  by  an
  excavator  to  underground  facilities  in  the  course  of  the  entire
  self-same excavation or demolition activity shall be prima facie grounds
  for enjoining the excavator from further performance of  the  excavation
  or demolition activity.
4.  In  the  event  that,  as  a  result  of a violation of any of the
  provisions of this article by an excavator,  it  is  necessary  that  an
  operator  make  any  repair  to or provide new support to an underground

  facility, the excavator shall be liable to the operator  for  reasonable
  costs so incurred.